This application relates to a switching system for selectively coupling one or more user stations to one of a plurality of computers. Each user station has at least one peripheral, where the peripherals include a keyboard, video display, and a mouse.
A user typically communicates with a personal computer via peripherals that serve as computer-user interfaces. Such peripherals may include a keyboard, a video display and a mouse. Typically, standard cables connecting each peripheral to the computer are about four feet long and the cables are used to couple one set of peripherals to one computer.
In some computer applications it is desirable to connect one or more user stations having associated peripherals to one or more computers. It is also desirable at times to do so when the user stations and computers are at different locations. For example, users increasingly desire to retrieve information from several computers at other relatively distant locations via a peripheral switch, such as a Cybex Autoboot Commander 4XP. In such a case, the user could remain at one location and cause the peripheral switch to selectively attach up to 3,000 different computers by configuring several Commander 4XPs and using the proprietary protocol of the peripheral switch. It is also possible using peripheral switches to selectively connect several user stations to a plurality of computers. In some of the peripheral switches, because of bandwidth limitations, not all users can operate simultaneously with computers coupled to the peripheral switch.
A peripheral switch typically responds to control information, provides status information, provides some type of security process, and passes data between user stations and computers. Switch information is typically classified as control information, status information, security information, and data.
The arrangement of computers, a peripheral switch, and user stations is typically referred to as a computer switching system. In many computer switching systems the peripherals at each user station comprise a keyboard, a video monitor, and a mouse. Such a grouping is sometimes referred to as a KVM station. The peripheral switch may be referred to as a KVM switch with the just described peripheral limitation.
Typically a computer switching system has a system administrator that has the ability to control the peripheral switch. The system administrator may send control information to the peripheral switch limiting activities of a selected user or user station. Further the system administrator can check the switch status by requesting status information from the peripheral switch. In addition, the system administrator may activate the security system to allow only authorized users to access the peripheral switch.
In some applications it would be desirable to interface the peripheral switch from a remote site. One option would be to provide a dedicated communication channel from the remote site to serve as a means for coupling to the peripheral switch. The dedicated communication channel could use the same proprietary language as the local peripherals and the functionality of the control, status, and security features could be controlled from the remote site. Another method of providing a remote peripheral connection could be implemented using a remote LAN to local LAN connections. The LAN arrangement has a major shortcoming. The remote device does not know the proprietary language of the peripheral switch, hence it would be necessary for the remote device to store the proprietary language of different peripheral switches.
The present invention provides a more efficient and improved method and apparatus to couple a remote site to a peripheral switch. Such a method and apparatus would provide the control, status, and security functions in a way that mirrors the local peripheral administrative functions using industry standard LAN based protocols, such as TCP/IP and at the same time avoid the cost of a dedicated channel.